Sketch for “Judgement of Paris”

Rendered in oil on canvas, the sketch displays Siemiradzki’s characteristic attention to anatomical precision and luminous, sun‑lit settings. Though less finished than his final canvases, the study reveals his method of building complex compositions through layered modeling and a restrained palette typical of late‑19th‑century academic painting.

Siemiradzki, a Polish artist who spent much of his professional life in Rome, produced a series of works drawn from antiquity alongside biblical and historical subjects. This particular sketch is part of that series and is now owned by the National Museum in Warsaw, where it forms part of the museum’s collection of 19th‑century Polish art.